Healing Through Understanding the Yin and Yang of Life

What is Yin and Yang?

The idea of Yin and Yang is a Chinese Philosophy that tries to explain the duality of life. Yin and Yang are polar opposites, while simultaneously being intertwined. (see symbol to the right) Understanding the nature of these two forces will start to make everything else in life make a little more sense, especially when it comes to healing the human mind and body. One of the most obvious distinctions are that of Night(Yin) and Day(Yang). Below is a table that further displays other examples of Yin and Yang. As you will see the Yang is overly represented in most people and our society as a whole.

YIN

YANG

Dark

Light

Slow

Fast

Water

Fire

Feminine

Masculine

Being

Doing

Internal

External

Feeling

Thinking

Flexible

Rigid

Earth

Sky

Downwards

Upwards

Left Hand

Right Hand

RIght Brain

Left Brain

Intimacy

Sex

Grows/Sustains

Generates/Creates

How Does This Pertain To Healing?

Healing the human mind and body is all about becoming whole again with the essential life force. Maybe you call that God, Allah, Nature, Source, or nothing at all. Being cut off from this flow is the source of all "dis-ease". If your body, mind and soul aren't flowing with ease then you are not whole and balanced. To discover that balance and find that flow one must be both the master of their Yin and Yang energies. This is my theory behind love, and why the word love is so synonymous with healing. When feminine and masculine meet there is a wholeness that takes place. This wholeness or love is what every being seeks whether they realize it or not. Below I will explain why we are out of balance, in what way, and ways to achieve balance again.

Healing in Today's Society

Healing today, especially in the United States and other 1st world western nations means getting in touch with and experiencing more of the yin energies. Most men especially need to become more yin and I will explain why. Today's fast paced, competitive society is extremely yang dominated. The male energy has dominated for thousands of years on this planet, and unfortunately that has led to the suppression of the female energies. However I do not want you to mistaken yin as female and yang as male, when it pertains to physical genders. There are male human beings who are far more yin than many females, and females who are more yang than men. For example, a female CEO of a business is probably going to be more overall yang than a male Buddhist monk. This domination of yang energy has led to our current state of affairs. Wars are fought because of excess yang. Excessive yang is a way of thinking that looks out for the self, while yin is more concerned about the "other" or the whole. If everyone was in touch with their yin side then there would be very few wars and barely any suffering.

How Women Are Out of Balance

Today's women are overly yang because they are now almost forced into a yang dominated, ultra competitive business world. They are asked to be thinkers, doers, and strong willed. There is nothing wrong with these attributes as long as the woman simultaneously keeps in touch with her deep roots as a socializing, caring, and loving being. Women can keep this balance by still doing yin activities in her free time, but if their entire life and mindset consists of doing, doing and more doing, the hallmark of yang then they will be unbalanced and unhappy. This frustration with the overly yang society has most women on some level disgusted but they must realize they are part of the problem, being overly yang as well. The only way true change will occur is not by making feminist organizations, that ironically become yang in nature, but in nurturing and loving your fellow men and teaching them the ways of the yin that come more naturally to women.

How Men Are Out of Balance

Most men are farther out of balance than most women because we are inherently yang from the day we are born on this Earth. An entire book could be written on this subject but I will attempt to summarize it. Men are overly yang because they see the yin side of things as being useless, scary, and downright disturbing. This manifests itself in a hatred of feelings, vulnerability, laziness and anything to do with the yin energies. This socialization starts in the middle school years and they say phrases the rest of their lives such as "stop being a pussy" or that's "gay", which at its core is simply a disdain of yin. This close minded attitude leads to much suffering and I experienced that personally. I am just now getting in touch with my feminine/yin side, and guess what guys, you are missing out. There is great joy and power in getting in touch with the yin. You can still be manly and awesome and simultaneously be loving, caring and open minded. It is all about finding a balance. Balance is where all the greatness happens. Many extraordinary men of the past and present were very in touch with their yin sides. Any man a woman finds smooth is more in touch with the yin. In particular two that I have noticed are Albert Einstein and Ryan Gosling. I remember a Gosling interview where he said that growing up with all women taught him to be a man but think like a woman as well. This is why he is such an awesome dude, he is balanced! The men of this world now more than ever need to look in the mirror and question everything we've ever been taught, especially in regards to feelings, emotions and everything yin. Almost all men can benefit from becoming more yin, in fact every day I strive to become more yin while still developing my yang side.

Activities For Achieving Balance

Yin Activities

Yang Activities

Sports For Fun

Competitive Sports

Sleep

Being Alert

Meditation

Thinking

Drawing

Video Games

Accepting

Judging

Being in Nature

Being Indoors

Walking

Running

Movies

6 Second Vines

Anything Slow Paced

Anything Fast Paced

Enjoying A Slow Walk Through Nature is Yin

The Mindset of Yin and Yang

Activities are nice but the true healing of Yin and Yang is our own brains. I will write an in depth article on this one day but for now a summary will do. The Yang mindset is based in our dominant hemisphere which is generally the more conscious, left hemisphere. This hemisphere thinks in a linear fashion, sees the world as an infinite amount of small parts, and always wants to be doing something, or thinking about something. This hemisphere is the gas pedal, it goes, it creates, its uses words,it gets excited. The right hemisphere, is yin in nature. It is quiet, it sees the connections between everything, it sees in a neutral, honest way, it is focused on space, the nothingness, it is our "open mind". It is not our creative mind which is so often said today, because both hemispheres are needed to be creative. This hemisphere is suppressed greatly in today's society primarily because of the bias in our schooling, and because of the rise in technology. Fast paced things that demand a focused attention like computer screens, do not use the right hemisphere. The best way to access this hemisphere more often and therefore become more yin and heal is to meditate and learn how its state of being feels much different than the constantly doing left hemisphere. If a balance is achieved in the hemispheres then you are considered whole brained and you will be happy, feel great and be at peace once again.

Last Thoughts

I know it may seem like I was bashing the yang in this article but I am not. The yang is absolutely essential to a fulfilling, happy life. There would be no excitement, or passion, or warmth without the yang. The yang is just as important as the yin, the problem is that the yang has dominated for far too long in the human race. Once the yin is seen as an equal in this world, then good things will start to happen. Every decision and action made out of balance will be that much more harmonious. Through choosing more yin activities and choosing a yin mindset, the majority of humans on this planet can heal and become whole again. I am not big into goal setting but an underlying goal of mine is to develop a deeper relationship with the yin, women, and my right hemisphere for the rest of my life, because the more I do, the more balanced I feel. I hope you apply some of what you learned from this article and good luck in your journey back to wholeness! I have another hub on yin and yang which you can find here.

Comments

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Mackenzie Sage Wright 3 years ago

Great hub. In my religion (Wicca, not hard to guess, lol), balance is key. The yin/yang work together; my High Priest used to guide us into balance meditations using the yin/yang, we were to see it as a 3-D sphere, spinning, and the little dot of each color in the other was connected-- a tunnel. This symbol has a great deal of meaning to me in life. Good work here, voted up.

Author

Evan Martin 3 years agofrom Pennsylvania

Thank You Nadine, and I wasn't aware that we could vote on articles?

Nadine May 3 years agofrom Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Welcome to hubpages. What a great article you wrote. Yes yang has dominated the human race, but its changing! Voted up!

Author

Evan Martin 3 years agofrom Pennsylvania

Yea but we can't let those circumstances keep us unbalanced. Its really hard to be yin in today's world but we must make time to slow down and smell the roses or we will get burnt out.

someonewhoknows 3 years agofrom south and west of canada,north of ohio

Am most definitely more yang than yin!

Appreciate the yin side of life at times where circumstances are conducive to the yin side of life.